162 
NORTH DEVON. 
shaly rock only was visible, barely removed 
in composition from the intervening clay. 
Not a fragment of foreign matter appeared, 
but on attaining a place called Woodford 
Bridge, where the country b(‘.came (in mi¬ 
ning phrase) harder for a short space, the 
road side was strewed with dark sandstones, 
glittering in the sunshine with abundant 
remains of reed-like plants. Jointed and 
fluted stems and small grassy leaves, in 
inconceivable profusion but imperfect state, 
shew^ed that once this wilderness of muddv 
•> 
matter was diversified by the graceful 
growth of a tropical marsh, and that the 
whole series belongs to the coal measure and 
not to the slate. 
Near Bideford the same thin intercala¬ 
tion of plant-bearing strata, with thick bar¬ 
ren rocks occurs. In the noble cliffs which 
form the gorge of the river Torridge, there 
may be seen extending for half a mile, high 
rocks nearly vertical, so that the cjuaiiies, 
unlike most excavations, display smooth 
sides, and printed on some few of these, 
are the indelible traces of delicate vegeta¬ 
tion. Silvery calamites, the leaf i)robably 
